Home Professionals should be Professional, and They can be Held Liable When They Aren’t
If you perform home repair and maintenance yourself but don’t do a bang-up job, you’ve no one to blame but yourself. If you hire a professional, on the other hand, you expect a professional quality of work and can enforce your contractual rights to see that the work is done correctly or you get your money back. What’s more, if a repair done is negligently and someone in your household winds up injured because of that negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills and a whole host of other legal damages. There’s also the issue of your liability to guests to your home who are injured on your property, which is another point in favor of hiring a professional and holding them accountable for performing with diligence and care.
We’ll look at contractual rights in this post and discuss civil liability in a later post.
Enforcing Contractual Rights for Home Repair
When you hire a home repair professional, you’re entering into a contract whereby you agree to pay a certain amount in exchange for services rendered. In almost all cases, there will be a written contract or agreement signed by you and other party, which should at a minimum outline the work to be performed and the amount to be paid. A thorough contract may also set out the remedies for nonperformance and the procedure to follow if you feel there has been a breach.
Even if you agreed to the hire the professional without a written contract, you still have formed an oral contract and may have enforceable rights. The terms of an oral contract are harder to prove since there is no written document to refer to, but there are ways. Keep in mind, however, that not all oral contracts are enforceable in court. It depends on the type of work involved and the amount of money at stake. Laws vary from state to state, so ask a local lawyer in your area what contractual rights you may have, even if there is nothing in writing.
If the home repair was done incorrectly, you may have the right to demand performance up to the expected standard or the right to a refund. You may also be able to negotiate a discount if substantial work was performed that you can live with, even if it’s not perfect. There are a wide range of contractual remedies which may be available, depending on the terms of the contract and the laws in your jurisdiction.
Breach of warranty claims also fall under contractual claims. When a professional company warrants its work for a certain period or guarantees satisfaction, those warranties are part of the contract. When an express warranty exists, it probably also includes a remedy, such as a refund of the amount paid or the promise to come back and perform the work again to the customer’s satisfaction. Even without an express, written warranty, some warranties are implied in law. For instance, in most states, it is implied that construction work will be performed in a reasonable, workmanlike manner. An implied warranty may or may not exist regarding the work you had performed.
On the flip side, some professionals may try to disclaim any warranties in the contract with language stating that no warranty of work is expressed or implied. These disclaimers are generally frowned upon and may or may not be enforceable depending upon the laws which govern your state or jurisdiction. It’s worthwhile to contact a lawyer to discuss your case even if your contract contained a warranty disclaimer, because it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
